I
am very glad I grew up in the 80's. As far as I was concerned, it was the last
golden age of animation on broadcast television. Or at least, the most
productive. I mean, between the three broadcast networks, there was close to 12
hours of animation on television every Saturday. Twelve! And that's not even
taking into account shows like G.I. Joe, the Transformers, Voltron and He-Man And the
Masters Of the Universe shown during the week. While I was a regular viewer of
various shows on the Saturday lineups, and i'd watch G.I. Joe, the Transformers
and Voltron, the way my weekday viewing was scheduled, everything began with
He-Man. In fact, I have fond memories of rushing home from my bus stop so I wouldn't
miss Prince Adam's first "By the power of Greyskull...!". Thankfully, BCI
Eclipse continues their outstanding contribution to 80's animation with the
latest volume of He-Man And the Masters Of the Universe.

After He-Man's first season had aired in
syndication, Filmation was surprised that the show was a hit and its ratings
were astounding (for a syndicated show). Since some of season one's creators
were now hard at work at Fat Albert And the Cosby Kids, they had to
re-adjust from the urban stories of Fat Albert, to the magical world of
Eternia and its inhabitants. While future Batman: the Animated Series
producer/writer Paul Dini didn't return for the next round of episodes, Sci-Fi creators J. Michael Straczynski and D.C.
Fontana joined past He-Man writers J. Brynne Stephens, Larry DiTillo and David
Wise to hammer out 65 more episodes that would turn out to be the final
episodes of He-Man And the Masters Of the Universe.

Thanks to the success of the first season, the
writers found they had the freedom to write more complex stories and to explore the
background of established characters, while continuing to expand He-Man's mythology
and introduce a random new toy Mattel added to the line. Errr...I mean, a
random new character. The season got off to a good start with Larry
DiTillio's "the Cat And the Spider", a story of tolerance that also saw Cringer
getting a girlfriend named Katrina. David Wise's first episode of the season,
"Day Of the Machines", was about various machines across Eternia coming to life.
A story which, Wise admits during The Stories Of He-Man And the Masters Of the
Universe - Season 2, Part 1 documentary, he later repeated during his
writing stint
on the Transformers!

One of my favorite episodes, Straczyski's "the
Origin Of the Sorceress", features one of the most painstakingly obvious "Hey,
we have a new toy in stores!" product placements (that would be Stridor).
However, i'm a sucker for well written origin stories and the Sorceress was one
of my favorite characters. Though, I confess the way she was drawn and the late Linda Gary voiced
the character had a lot to do with it. My second favorite episode on this set
was D.C. & Richard Fontana's "Battlecat". After causing havoc in
Man-At-Arms' laboratory, Orko is told the tale of how He-Man found Cringer and
how Cringer became Battle Cat. While there were one or two episodes I was less
than impressed with (I couldn't stop laughing at Sh'Gora from "To Save Skeletor"),
the "hits" more than outweigh the "misses" and there's something here for most
everyone:

the Cat In the Spider

the Energy Beast

Day Of the Machines

the Gamesman

Fisto's Forest

the Rarest Gift Of All

the Great Books Mystery

Origin Of the Sorceress

Island Of Fear

To Save Skeletor

the Ice Age Cometh

Trouble In Trolla

Betrayal Of Stratos

Disappearing Dragons

the Shadow Of Skeletor

the Arena

Attack From Below

Into the Abyss

Fraidy Cat

the Rainbow Warrior

A Trip To Morainia

Things That Go Bump In the
Night

Three On A Dare

Just A Little Lie

One For All

Jacob And the Widgets

the Littlest Giant

Trouble's Middle Name

Journey To Stone City

A Bird In the Hand

Battlecat

the Time Wheel

Search For the Past

Video:
Since BCI Eclipse chose to spread the 33 episodes of He-Man And the Masters Of the Universe Season 2, Part 1 over so many discs, it gives the
picture's bitrate some room to breathe
and results in a clear, colorful picture - for
the most part. There's some slight dirt and grain in some episodes and slight
pixelation during the transformation scene, but this is the best that i've seen
or remember the picture.

Audio: Viewers have two audio options - Dolby Digital 2.0 English or
Spanish. They're nothing to write home about, but I had no issues with either
track. In my perfect world, every DVD would always have a 5.1 mix (Dolby
and dts), but I realize that the limitations
of the original broadcast would make that close to impossible.

Supplements:
While there are audio
commentaries by Lou & Erika Scheimer, Larry DiTillio, Tom Sito, Tom Tataranowicz
and David Teague spread over the first three discs, the sixth disc is
reserved for the bulk of the special features.

We start with the third chapter of The Stories Of He-Man And the Masters Of the
Universe - Season 2, Part 1. This chapter deals with the second season of
He-Man and the creation of the episodes on this disc. Featuring interviews with Robert Lamb, Tom Tataranowicz, Larry
DiTillio, David Wise and J. Michael Straczynski, David C. Teague and Donald F.
Roberts, I enjoyed the documentary and even chuckled when Wise mentioned that his second season episode
experience, "Day Of the Machines", was so memorable, that he ended up doing the
almost exact same story on later when he wrote for "the Transformers".
He also admits that it worked much better in the latter show - and after
watching them both back-to-back, i'm inclined to agree. 31 minutes.

the Magic Of Filmation -- Co-founders Hal Sutherland,
the Scheimer clan (Erika, Jay & Lou) and a host of creators talk about Filmation's
history and their role in it.
32 minutes.

In addition to the two documentaries, there's
also a full length animated storyboard with interactive episode comparison for
the episode "Trouble's Middle Name", 50 detailed profiles for various
characters, creatures and artifacts and there are also 5 complete episodes in .pdf
format (the Cat And the Spider, To Save Skeletor, Into the Abyss, the Rainbow
Warrior and Battlecat).

Lastly, there are two collectable 4"x6" Art
Cards drawn by Masters Of the Universe artist Emiliano Santalucia and (my
favorite) Frank Cho. Emiliano draws a fantastic cast shot featuring a ton of
characters, while Cho draws Teela flung over Beast-Man's shoulder as he's in
pursuit of Orko.

Conclusion: BCI Eclipse continue to treat He-Man And the Masters Of the
Universe with the respect which fans grew accustomed to after the first two
volumes. Respect for the product they were selling and respect for the fans of
the show. From the highly attractive, if space-consuming packaging, to the
single-sided DVDs showcasing an individual character on each disc. Hell, now that I think
about it, they should be in charge of every DVD release. Though Mattel
had intended this show to be little more than extended promotion for their
"Masters Of the Universe" toy line, I don't think they counted on Filmation on
making this show so much more. While there might be some who disagree on the
quality of the content, there's no way you can deny the amount of care that went
into this set and in the end, my children and I thoroughly enjoyed this trip to
Eternia and we eagerly await Season 2, Part 2. Highly Recommended.